Yesterday my brother and I drove up to Auburn Indiana with the intent of visiting the marvelous Auburn Cord Duesenberg museum then go over to the big auction. We had so much fun at the museum we did not go to the auction at all. There was also a nice spread of Auburns and Cords outside in the parking lot.
Inside there was at least a dozen Duesenbergs, a nice selections of Auburns and Cords as well. There was a Cord Limo and a Cord hearse as well. Lovely cars with a low slung look.
In the other cars section there was a Mercedes gullwing (red) and a Cisitilia. Alongside a 33 Checker cab.
Upstairs there was a race car section which included a Miller 91 CI rear wheel drive car. (lovely....the widest part of the car was the drivers shoulders). A 33 or so Deusenberg two man racer.
My favorite part is always the old design studio area which has an office set up with a large drawing board with 1933 era drafting equipment including a wooden T square the likes of which I have been drafting with recently in my revived career as a semi retire Architect.
In the next room there were three clays of the 1936 Cord at 1/3 scale and some wooden fender bucks. IN that room there was also two full scale body fabrication drawings.
Cool stuff!
There was also about a dozen engines on stands including a v16 aero engine by Lycoming and a twin 8 Bugatti aero engine. That was two straight eight engines mounted on a common case but not sharing one crank....attached with gears somehow. There was also a Deusenberg straight six of 268 CI. This engine was more massive than my cummins truck engine....must have weighed at least 1500#, though over 2000 would not surprise.
There are a whole lot of pictures of racing cars as well and some patent drawings for the front drive mechanisms of the Cord.
These office areas are visually the same as when the factory was building cars in the early thirties before the Great Depression crushed all car sales especially the expensive ones.
The building was built in 1930 and is a lovely example of Art Deco design. It is all there and mostly all original. The remodeled areas are woven in with the original parts to form a seamless whole that is lovely to see.
Great stuff!
Then we went downtown where the local folks for miles around had gathered their old cars and hot rods. There were a lot of fine cars including Hot Rods, Street rods, customs and restored cars.
I spent about an hour and a half wandering amongst them looking at details for my 39 Studebaker street rod.
By that time we were so pooped we just headed back to Lafayette and skipped the auction completely.
We had a great time my brother and I, laughing at and with each other and really enjoying each others company.
maybe next year I'll try to book a room in the old Auburn Hotel and take two days to soak it all in.
